Hopefully the Republicans will take control of the US Congress in tomorrow's elections and our owner will be so giddy with excitement he decides to spend millions on players in January to celebrate.
Who'd have thought that the "land of the free's" descent into fascism could be a contributing factor to the most unlikely post January promotion charge?
My big worry about it all is the ground, surely we cant/won't just hand over the ground after everything we've been through, that has to stay. I'd be disgusted if we do.
Just a thought. Could Pete’s notable absence, in person and remotely, suggest he is less committed to the expansionist plans the Chairman has on his agenda? Pete has a broad understanding of English football and specifically life in Wycombe so, one would hope, is bringing some realistic perspective to the table
Does anyone know how much The Trust sold their 75 per cent stake for? Given now we hear that according to Mr Couhig’s interview a) he had no exit plan b) Pete was the exit plan but given visa problems that is no longer an option, it will be interesting to see who they flog it to.
It probably doesn't help, Pete lived it for a couple years and is much closer to the fans. Although at least the official line is Visa / family issues rather than cooling of interest. He undoubtedly would have had a better idea of what is likely to piss people off and probably less of an "It's mine" attitude.
I wonder if the amount of stick they get might have caught up with them too, seen various people calling him a c*nt and the like on Twitter going way beyond the reasonable, Ainsworth is now "The hairy biker" on Facebook, and there's just one or two former, and wannabe employees who seem to be revelling in every turn at the moment on here and other places .
Your second paragraph is spot on. The Gasroom is an example of largely intelligent, balanced comment compared to the Facebook groups. If I was Rob or GA reading some of the uncalled for and sometimes personal remarks on there I would question why I even bother. I’m not saying that either of them are faultless (who is?) but they have made many sacrifices (and in Rob’s case financial gambles) out of loyalty to our club and deserve more respect.
Sometimes you think some "supporters" deserve a failing club, @StrongestTeam
The club was promoted from Lg1 three seasons ago, damn nearly stayed up and then returned to Wembley last season. The ride over the last ten years has been amazing. All delivered by Gareth Ainsworth and in latter years Rob Couhig. All that with a club measured on attendances alone which is probably naturally a mid table Lg2 club. Their reward - to be slagged off as soon as a slightly disappointing season comes along (although for WWFC midtable in Lg1 remains quite an achievement).
Everyone involved with the club over the last decade - from Trust Board, the Couhigs, the players (past and present), the directors, Gareth and his management team and all the support staff get a big thumbs up in gratitude from me.
I guess, in this social media age, all clubs supporters are the same. Negativity seems the fashion these days. Depressing.
The fb group and twitter posts can be a bit of a cesspool. You do have to remember that 1,000s of people use both though, and it really is just a small number of abusive and ill thought out posts.
20 years ago you'd slope off from a game muttering about how it was rubbish and all is woe, as a kneejerk reaction. Now you get such sentiments put online and there's no cooling off period.
But If I were the Couhigs I would wonder why I bother at times. Football fans are so fickle it's unreal. We've quickly gone from simply just being happy to stay up in league 1 after years of battling to get out of league 2, so suddenly some think it's some sort of right to compete for the play offs to go up to a level we've been in once in our history!
People can be grateful for the good things they've done while also not putting up with being taken for granted - although treating customers with contempt will undo a lot of that good work.
I deleted my profile on Facebook over 7 years ago as even back then it was a seething pool of idiots, narcisists & lowest common denominator thoughts, I can only imagine it has got wors ein recent years.
I still use twitter to follow the club but tend to only read posts from the likes of the clubs official account, @ReturnToSenda & @bluntphil as a vocal minority of our supporters who take to twitter seem to live in the same sort of entitled la-la land that sees supporters of other clubs wittering on about how they should be in a higher league & other clubs are tin pot & similar nonsense. Seriously if they were all correct then the premier league would be at double its current size, the championship would have 30 or so teams with probably 11 teams in each of L1 & L2. I suppose that way we might stand a chance of promotion this season...
As I have stated in earlier posts I do get where RC is coming from but am yet to be convinced that his desire is in the interests of Trust members & ordinary supporters.
As others have said what will attract punters is one of 2 things a winning team (it doesn't really matter how they win as everyone loves a winner) or a moderately successful one that provides entertainment on the pitch. Currently we are neither, our football is hard to watch too much of the time & our results speak for themselves; yes, 2 or 3 victories in the coming weeks will change the perspective of many as the table is so bloody tight at the moment as other than the top & bottom 4 the rest of the division has conspired to be be bang average so far.
I know off one fan, who is a regular on the Wanderers Facebook page, often abusive and always negative. Rarely if ever attends games,spouts off as if the latest poor performance has ruined his weekend, when in fact he doesn't even bother to attend. These individuals whose level of support consists of joining a Facebook group, and turning up at Wembley when we play there. It's not a good barometer for anyone to judge the groundswell of the Wanderers fan base via the faceache forums.
The Ipswich game will make the club additional revenue of approximately £25k, weighed against the inconvenience of moving seats that is surely not an unreasonable idea and hardly an example of treating fans with contempt. If there was evidence that we could sell those seats to Wycombe fans this would not have been necessary.
I think giving paying customers' seats away without any notice is pretty contemptuous. I prefer the term 'supporters' too, but the chairman appears not to.
Coming late to this, after a loooong break from this forum, and wondering if someone can enlighten me on the chances of actually getting a road across the West Wycombe Park land? Lots of talk about fruitful discussions with the Dashwoods, and that's all well and good, but they're not the owners, merely tenants. The estate is owned by the National Trust, and I'm not sure what level the discussion and agreements would have to go to for a member-organisation to give approval for a change of use of Greenbelt land. I doubt if this is something that can be agreed locally. the Dashwood/NT incentive is to be able to build houses on the end of the road where it would join the A40 - again, complex and controversial, and something that has previously been turned down by the Council.
And don't forget that past owners have drawn up plans for an access road in the past and have met precisely no success - I can certainly remember Steve Hayes going for it in the early days of his joint WWFC/Wasps ownership. I understand RC pushing it as he will have to increase access/egress significantly if he's to get planning permission for expansion - with just one road in and out (and that used heavily by artics), any hopes of physical expansion are a non-starter.
Like all on here I await the RC plan with bated breath. While he talks of 'leaving it all in the hands of his lawyers', he's a smart lawyer himself and one-time city politician. He's no ingenue and knows exactly what he wants to get out of this week's dealings. I suspect he can run rings round the Trust and I hope they're not left in a position handing over the crown jewels for the sake of an owner's ultimate exit strategy.
Only benefit I see is using this as a trial / experiment of putting away fans in the FA and looking to get home fans back behind the goal where the away fans are at present.
This must indicate it’s something that can be considered?
We would have sold all the seats in the Family stand for such a big game on a Saturday. Now those 350-400 odd families will have to move and pay more somewhere else in the ground or just not bother.
I can make £40 by going to watch Maidenhead instead of Wycombe and it’s much closer to my home. Doesn’t seem right though does it.
I understand the Ipswich tickets in the Frank Adams Upper will be cheaper than the home fans are paying too.
Very very small minority of obnoxious Facebook and Twitter fans aside, to me this is a strange time in history (post empty stadiums, cost of living crisis) to be calling fans entitled. Struggling with finances can make a poor performance on the pitch feel even more wretched, as the money could well have been spent elsewhere. There are also fans genuinely feeling disenfranchised, and to me it seems perilous to scoff at this.
Expectations do change over time. It is fantastic we have been out of L2 so long, and to me GA is the primary reason (together with Dobbo), and deserves gratitude and respect. However, it is also hard not to look at a squad containing the likes of Mawson, Vokes and McCleary and feel rather disappointed that we are scuffling along in the middle of the pack playing a thoroughly uninspiring style.
Football is an odd beast, as unlike other businesses, you have the "paying customers" over a bit of a barrel, as fans rarely change allegiances, so it is not the usual relationship. I think as a result, there can be a subconscious disrespect towards fans, as they are "not going anywhere", and they should just sit back, shut up and eat what they are served, in a manner of speaking.
Comments
Hopefully the Republicans will take control of the US Congress in tomorrow's elections and our owner will be so giddy with excitement he decides to spend millions on players in January to celebrate.
A girl can dream....
Who'd have thought that the "land of the free's" descent into fascism could be a contributing factor to the most unlikely post January promotion charge?
Well...quite a few on here are saying this season is slipping away because we lack strong charismatic leaders on the pitch
My big worry about it all is the ground, surely we cant/won't just hand over the ground after everything we've been through, that has to stay. I'd be disgusted if we do.
Just a thought. Could Pete’s notable absence, in person and remotely, suggest he is less committed to the expansionist plans the Chairman has on his agenda? Pete has a broad understanding of English football and specifically life in Wycombe so, one would hope, is bringing some realistic perspective to the table
Does anyone know how much The Trust sold their 75 per cent stake for? Given now we hear that according to Mr Couhig’s interview a) he had no exit plan b) Pete was the exit plan but given visa problems that is no longer an option, it will be interesting to see who they flog it to.
It probably doesn't help, Pete lived it for a couple years and is much closer to the fans. Although at least the official line is Visa / family issues rather than cooling of interest. He undoubtedly would have had a better idea of what is likely to piss people off and probably less of an "It's mine" attitude.
I wonder if the amount of stick they get might have caught up with them too, seen various people calling him a c*nt and the like on Twitter going way beyond the reasonable, Ainsworth is now "The hairy biker" on Facebook, and there's just one or two former, and wannabe employees who seem to be revelling in every turn at the moment on here and other places .
Your second paragraph is spot on. The Gasroom is an example of largely intelligent, balanced comment compared to the Facebook groups. If I was Rob or GA reading some of the uncalled for and sometimes personal remarks on there I would question why I even bother. I’m not saying that either of them are faultless (who is?) but they have made many sacrifices (and in Rob’s case financial gambles) out of loyalty to our club and deserve more respect.
Sometimes you think some "supporters" deserve a failing club, @StrongestTeam
The club was promoted from Lg1 three seasons ago, damn nearly stayed up and then returned to Wembley last season. The ride over the last ten years has been amazing. All delivered by Gareth Ainsworth and in latter years Rob Couhig. All that with a club measured on attendances alone which is probably naturally a mid table Lg2 club. Their reward - to be slagged off as soon as a slightly disappointing season comes along (although for WWFC midtable in Lg1 remains quite an achievement).
Everyone involved with the club over the last decade - from Trust Board, the Couhigs, the players (past and present), the directors, Gareth and his management team and all the support staff get a big thumbs up in gratitude from me.
I guess, in this social media age, all clubs supporters are the same. Negativity seems the fashion these days. Depressing.
I echo your every word Dev, well said.
The fb group and twitter posts can be a bit of a cesspool. You do have to remember that 1,000s of people use both though, and it really is just a small number of abusive and ill thought out posts.
20 years ago you'd slope off from a game muttering about how it was rubbish and all is woe, as a kneejerk reaction. Now you get such sentiments put online and there's no cooling off period.
But If I were the Couhigs I would wonder why I bother at times. Football fans are so fickle it's unreal. We've quickly gone from simply just being happy to stay up in league 1 after years of battling to get out of league 2, so suddenly some think it's some sort of right to compete for the play offs to go up to a level we've been in once in our history!
Very good points @Malone
People can be grateful for the good things they've done while also not putting up with being taken for granted - although treating customers with contempt will undo a lot of that good work.
Maybe just get off social media @DevC - your experience of Wycombe fans is hugely different to the ones I know and go to games with.
They just want Wycombe to win on Saturday and maybe a bit of marking at set pieces.
I deleted my profile on Facebook over 7 years ago as even back then it was a seething pool of idiots, narcisists & lowest common denominator thoughts, I can only imagine it has got wors ein recent years.
I still use twitter to follow the club but tend to only read posts from the likes of the clubs official account, @ReturnToSenda & @bluntphil as a vocal minority of our supporters who take to twitter seem to live in the same sort of entitled la-la land that sees supporters of other clubs wittering on about how they should be in a higher league & other clubs are tin pot & similar nonsense. Seriously if they were all correct then the premier league would be at double its current size, the championship would have 30 or so teams with probably 11 teams in each of L1 & L2. I suppose that way we might stand a chance of promotion this season...
As I have stated in earlier posts I do get where RC is coming from but am yet to be convinced that his desire is in the interests of Trust members & ordinary supporters.
As others have said what will attract punters is one of 2 things a winning team (it doesn't really matter how they win as everyone loves a winner) or a moderately successful one that provides entertainment on the pitch. Currently we are neither, our football is hard to watch too much of the time & our results speak for themselves; yes, 2 or 3 victories in the coming weeks will change the perspective of many as the table is so bloody tight at the moment as other than the top & bottom 4 the rest of the division has conspired to be be bang average so far.
Some can, some clearly can't.
I probably stray into la-la land myself at times, although I think I'm done with Twitter as I don't want to be a pawn in Musk's evil masterplan
Just a reminder you have complete control over what you see on Twitter, and if you don't there are some very easy setting changes.
I know off one fan, who is a regular on the Wanderers Facebook page, often abusive and always negative. Rarely if ever attends games,spouts off as if the latest poor performance has ruined his weekend, when in fact he doesn't even bother to attend. These individuals whose level of support consists of joining a Facebook group, and turning up at Wembley when we play there. It's not a good barometer for anyone to judge the groundswell of the Wanderers fan base via the faceache forums.
I
Facebook is great for being in contact with old and current friends, and for linking in with perhaps small groups you know a lot of people at.
But for something as widely used as a football club group, or even say the HW groups, you're often just smothered in the negative and abusive types.
The worst parts are when some footballer or celeb has made some statement, and the comments are just seething pools of bitter ranters.
Do you have any examples of ‘customers’ (I prefer the word supporters) being treated with contempt by the Couhigs?
I suggest you ask a "subscriber" being kicked out of the FA for the Ipswich match and no doubt a number of future games!
The Ipswich game will make the club additional revenue of approximately £25k, weighed against the inconvenience of moving seats that is surely not an unreasonable idea and hardly an example of treating fans with contempt. If there was evidence that we could sell those seats to Wycombe fans this would not have been necessary.
We already have sold those seats to Wycombe fans. That's why it requires a little extra care.
I think giving paying customers' seats away without any notice is pretty contemptuous. I prefer the term 'supporters' too, but the chairman appears not to.
Coming late to this, after a loooong break from this forum, and wondering if someone can enlighten me on the chances of actually getting a road across the West Wycombe Park land? Lots of talk about fruitful discussions with the Dashwoods, and that's all well and good, but they're not the owners, merely tenants. The estate is owned by the National Trust, and I'm not sure what level the discussion and agreements would have to go to for a member-organisation to give approval for a change of use of Greenbelt land. I doubt if this is something that can be agreed locally. the Dashwood/NT incentive is to be able to build houses on the end of the road where it would join the A40 - again, complex and controversial, and something that has previously been turned down by the Council.
And don't forget that past owners have drawn up plans for an access road in the past and have met precisely no success - I can certainly remember Steve Hayes going for it in the early days of his joint WWFC/Wasps ownership. I understand RC pushing it as he will have to increase access/egress significantly if he's to get planning permission for expansion - with just one road in and out (and that used heavily by artics), any hopes of physical expansion are a non-starter.
Like all on here I await the RC plan with bated breath. While he talks of 'leaving it all in the hands of his lawyers', he's a smart lawyer himself and one-time city politician. He's no ingenue and knows exactly what he wants to get out of this week's dealings. I suspect he can run rings round the Trust and I hope they're not left in a position handing over the crown jewels for the sake of an owner's ultimate exit strategy.
Additional revenue is not a justification for everything is it?
Only benefit I see is using this as a trial / experiment of putting away fans in the FA and looking to get home fans back behind the goal where the away fans are at present.
This must indicate it’s something that can be considered?
We would have sold all the seats in the Family stand for such a big game on a Saturday. Now those 350-400 odd families will have to move and pay more somewhere else in the ground or just not bother.
I can make £40 by going to watch Maidenhead instead of Wycombe and it’s much closer to my home. Doesn’t seem right though does it.
I understand the Ipswich tickets in the Frank Adams Upper will be cheaper than the home fans are paying too.
I’ve voted with my feet and won’t be going.
Very very small minority of obnoxious Facebook and Twitter fans aside, to me this is a strange time in history (post empty stadiums, cost of living crisis) to be calling fans entitled. Struggling with finances can make a poor performance on the pitch feel even more wretched, as the money could well have been spent elsewhere. There are also fans genuinely feeling disenfranchised, and to me it seems perilous to scoff at this.
Expectations do change over time. It is fantastic we have been out of L2 so long, and to me GA is the primary reason (together with Dobbo), and deserves gratitude and respect. However, it is also hard not to look at a squad containing the likes of Mawson, Vokes and McCleary and feel rather disappointed that we are scuffling along in the middle of the pack playing a thoroughly uninspiring style.
Football is an odd beast, as unlike other businesses, you have the "paying customers" over a bit of a barrel, as fans rarely change allegiances, so it is not the usual relationship. I think as a result, there can be a subconscious disrespect towards fans, as they are "not going anywhere", and they should just sit back, shut up and eat what they are served, in a manner of speaking.